Transformations by Salem Angels
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Mission Statement
We exist to wrap support around the children, youth and families in the foster care community through intentional giving, relationship building, and mentorship.
About This Cause
We value building community around families who care for children who have been through trauma, abuse, and neglect to show them they are not alone. Our programs utilize a trauma-informed, holistic, wrap-around support service model that strengthens the health of the home. We value empowering the local community to volunteer to make a meaningful and powerful impact on the foster care community. When families and youth are matched with committed volunteers and mentors who show up monthly, parents feel supported and youth gain a greater sense of belonging and self-confidence. We value the gift of hope for every child to find healing and reach their fullest potential. We know the value of love, friendship, and positive role models who will speak truth and life into the children in our programs and the selfless people who care for them. Our vision to ensure that every child, youth, and family in the foster care community has healthy, affirming, and lasting relationships. We do this by educating and empowering the local community and by recruiting compassionate, committed, and diverse volunteers to offer support through intentional giving, relationship building, and mentorship. We are part of National Angels' dream to open chapters in every metropolitan city in the nation so every single child in foster care in the United States will be supported and empowered to succeed. We believe our programs further the greater good of local communities and provide a real and tangible role to play within the foster care system. Our motivation is to ensure every child feels a deep sense of belonging and care, every youth reaches their fullest potential and achieves their dreams, and every resource (foster) family feels seen and supported along their journey. We created the Love Box program to provide a sense of community and support for resource families through intentional giving, relationship building, and mentorship. WHY CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES EXPERIENCING FOSTER CARE NEED YOU Children are removed from their homes and placed in foster care due to neglect, abandonment, or because they are the victims of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. When children are removed from the home they are confused and upset and they need the temporary protection and nurturing that a resource family can provide. It can be extremely difficult for children to adjust to a new home, new caregivers, new norms, a new school, and a new community. We also know that children in foster care experience high placement instability, many of them moving homes frequently. One large factor leading to this high rate of turnover is resource (foster) parents feeling unsupported or overwhelmed. THIS IS WHERE WE COME IN – WE SUPPORT THE WHOLE FAMILY The Love Box program provides resource families (caregivers, children in foster care, and biological/adopted children) with community and holistic support. This wrap-around support enables caregivers to continue to do the important and meaningful work of being foster parents. As a Love Box group, you will be matched with a local resource family based on location, compatibility, and scope of needs. When our families are matched with committed volunteers who show up monthly, parents feel supported and children gain a greater sense of normalcy, relational permanency, and self confidence. Volunteers seek to build relationships with their family by spending quality time with the whole family: playing games, sharing a meal, and being intentional. They can also create and deliver personal care packages based on current practical needs. We tell our volunteers to think of themselves as the fun “auntie” and “uncle” who visits once a month to bring love, encouragement, and hope. This program requires a one year commitment, but the connections and impact last a lifetime. We created the Dare to Dream program (for youth ages 15-22) and Dare to Dream Jr. program (for youth ages 11-14) to provide one-on-one mentorship to youth in care. Our mentors are advocates, guides, role models, valued friends, and available resources who guide youth in their accomplishment of developmental milestones through intentional giving, relationship building, and mentorship. WHY YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE NEED YOU Young people who have grown up within the foster care system have experienced instability in their lives and often disproportionately suffer with learning disabilities, limited life skills, health issues, and emotional and behavioral struggles that lead to negative developmental outcomes. Youth who age out of foster care without having been adopted or reunified with their families have less financial, emotional, and social support than their peers, yet they are often expected to be as self-sufficient as those who have familial support and guidance. This lack of assistance and resources combined with the various traumas these youth have experienced negatively affects their success and overall well being. As a result of having to overcome a childhood of abuse and neglect, removal from their parents, unstable living arrangements, multiple foster placements, and weak support systems, youth who age out of care enter young adulthood without a healthy foundation upon which they can build their futures and work to break the generational cycles that affect youth in care. THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN The heart of the Dare to Dream program is to walk alongside youth as they navigate through life's challenges. The youth in our Dare to Dream program need the wisdom, advice, encouragement, and community that mentors can provide. Mentors meet practical and emotional needs as well as provide guidance through developmental milestones. The goal is for youth to be engaged and to feel supported and equipped to navigate life. A mentor commits to meeting with the youth every other week to set goals and help them achieve their dreams. These relationships will hopefully last a lifetime, but the program is a year commitment. Mentors matched with a high school student are strongly encouraged to stay with the youth until high school graduation. We tell mentors that the simple act of telling their youth “I believe in you,” “You are special,” and “You are going to do great things” can change their path completely.